Kerri Einarson will be vying for her fifth national title as the Scotties Tournament of Hearts opens on Friday. The skipper and her Manitoba-based squad headline an 18-team field that’ll see all 10 provinces and three territories represented — but not the Homan Empire.
Missing in action at the bonspiel in Mississauga, Ont., is the World No. 1 and two-time defending champion, Team Homan, as Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes and skipper Rachel Homan get set to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympics.
This means Einarson’s foursome of Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Karlee Burgess is not only the top seed, but as silver medallists at the 2025 Scotties, they’ll be wearing Team Canada red-and-white. That’s the grand Scotties prize, too: The winners get to wear the Maple Leaf at world championships in March in Calgary.
Rounding out the top five seeds in the field contending for that honour are Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik, Nova Scotia’s Christina Black, B.C.’s Taylor Reese-Hansen and Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes.
Ahead of first rocks being thrown at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre, here are five storylines to watch as teams square off for that coveted national title, with the final set for Sunday, Feb. 1.
Look out for Black magic
At Olympic Trials in Halifax this past November, Team Black’s hometown rink was nearly the biggest story there, upsetting Einarson in the semifinal before losing the best-of-three to the heavily favoured Team Homan.
Black, Jill Brothers, Jenn Baxter, Karlee Everist and Marlee Powers, bronze medallists at the Scotties a year ago, come into this one riding the momentum of that best-ever result at Trials. The team has a new mindset heading into the Scotties, too, as Black pointed out shortly after their incredible run on home turf in Halifax came to an end.
“I think I learned to believe in us even more,” the skip said. “It just keeps us going. We know we belong. We can beat every team there. We can beat anyone, and there’s no reason why we can’t just go and bring it and win that.”
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Sweeping changes
Earlier this month, World Curling introduced new sweeping regulations to prohibit some techniques previously used to slow down stones. The rule seeks to eliminate the use of single brush strokes with the aim of deceleration.
This caused some controversy at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Canadian Open earlier this month, when Homan accused second Yumi Suzuki of using a brushing technique to attempt to slow down a stone. Homan later told Japanese skip Satsuki Fujisawa that it was “fine” but “just don’t let it happen again.”
Time will tell whether similar exchanges will be seen at the Scotties, but the rule has only been in existence for a couple of weeks and old habits sure can die hard.
Einarson goes for five
After that semifinal upset at Olympic Trials, Team Einarson bounced back. The skipper just about won her seventh career Grand Slam event to close out the GSOC season — in her team’s home province of Manitoba, no less. Einarson lost a nailbiter in the Players’ Championship final to world No. 2, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland, who’s among the top contenders at the upcoming Olympics.
The big win came before that, though, when Team Einarson earned an extra-ends victory over Homan — whose team is the winningest in GSOC history — to advance to that final. So, Einarson’s Team Canada is coming into this Scotties on a bit of a heater.
Einarson, Sweeting, Birchard and lead Briane Harris won the Scotties four straight times before their run came to an end in 2024. Just before that championship two years ago, Harris was suspended for a doping violation that was ultimately reverse a year later. It was a tough time for the team, who couldn’t discuss why Harris had been suspended during the bonspiel.
Harris is no longer on the team, and in 2025, Burgess joined and they earned a silver medal at the Scotties, losing to Homan in the final.
While the rest of Team Einarson will be looking to add to their Scotties titles — Einarson and Sweeting own four each, and Birchard has five to her name — the 27-year-old Burgess is in search of her first, and looking to break a streak. She has finished second at the national championship the last three straight years.
New-look Team Lawes squeaks in
The fifth seed here, Team Lawes claimed the last of the 18 spots in this field after losing the Manitoba final to Beth Peterson and having to rely on their ranking to gain entry.
They’ll be without usual second Jocelyn Peterman, who’s competing at the Olympics in mixed doubles, and instead Laura Walker is slotting in.
Team Lawes had the third-best record at Olympic Trials, tied with Team Black and Selena Sturmay of Edmonton. It was Black who emerged from that tiebreaker thanks to her closest Last Stone Draw.
Lawes is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, a world champion, the former long-time third for the incomparable Jennifer Jones, and winner of the 2015 Scotties. This will mark her 12th appearance at the national championship and, given her big-bonspiel experience and results, she’s always one to watch.
Opening night highlights
The 45th edition of the Scotties will see eight teams in action in the first draw on Friday night. This includes Team Canada, who’ll take on Bayly Scoffin and her team from the Yukon.
The game to watch is Team Lawes up against B.C.’s Reese-Hansen, a matchup between the bonspiel’s No. 4 and 5 seeds. Their last meeting came in December in the final of a tier 2 GSOC event, and Team Reese-Hansen won it in extra ends.
After play wraps up on opening night, The Patch will feature a free concert by the Canadian rock band, The Trews. The Patch (which is always home to a good party) is conveniently located right on site for fans, in Rink 2 at the Paramount Centre.
